Tar Heels Fall To No. 10 Michigan In Season-Opener

Saturday, August 27

Winston-Salem, N.C.

2:00 PM

North Carolina

(0-1)

Michigan

(1-0)

Michigan

North Carolina

August 27, 2016 | Field Hockey

Box Score

By: UNC Athletic Communications

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The UNC field hockey team suffered its first season-opening loss since 2002 on Saturday, falling to Michigan 1-0 in a particularly hard-to-swallow manner. “There's not a worse way to lose than when there's no time on the clock on a penalty corner,” UNC coach Karen Shelton said.

In the ACC-Big Ten Challenge at Wake Forest's Kentner Stadium, the longtime rivals played 70 scoreless minutes in a match that stretched out over a much longer period of time. The standard 10-minute halftime became an hour as storms moved through the area, but on the plus side, the clouds lingered to provide some welcome relief from the heat in the final 35 minutes. (The heat was intense enough in the first half that the teams took a timeout for a water break midway through the period.)

With less than a minute left on the game clock, Michigan drew a penalty corner, just its second of the game. Time ran down to 10 seconds before the Wolverines took the corner, and as it was played they were awarded another. By that point time had expired, so the final penalty corner began with the clock at zero. UM's Katie Trombetta took the initial shot, which was saved by UNC goalkeeper Alex Halpin. But Wolverine sophomore Emma Way gathered the rebound and sent it high into the goal in for the win.

“It was a hard-fought game by two good teams,” Shelton said. “Michigan played great, physical defense on us – I give them credit. We had some really nice stretches where we were controlling play and we were opening them up but we didn't sustain it, especially under pressure. We started going individual and carrying the ball too much and it ended up costing us.”

Each team had seven shots, with UNC taking six in the first half and Michigan six in the second. The Tar Heels had five penalty corners, four of them in the first half. All three of UM's corners came in the second half.

Four Tar Heels made their first collegiate appearances. True freshman Eef Andriessen started at forward, and classmate Megan DuVernois came in off the bench. Redshirt freshmen Marissa Creatore and Catherine Hayden also played for the first time as Tar Heels.

Carolina will return to this turf in less than 24 hours to meet another Big Ten opponent, Iowa, which beat the host Demon Deacons 2-1 Saturday in the day's opening game. UNC will face the Hawkeyes Sunday at 2 p.m., back at Kentner Stadium. “Tonight, we'll look at the film from Iowa and get back on the horse,” Shelton said. “That's the good thing – we get to play tomorrow.”

Beginning each year in the competitive ACC-Big Ten Challenge means never easing into the season, but Shelton appreciates the early competition and the lessons her team learns from it. The Wolverines were the last team to hand the Tar Heels a season-opening defeat, winning 2-0 in the 2002 ACC-Big Ten Challenge in Chapel Hill. “We're going to get better from this loss,” Shelton said. “If we'd won this game, we might not have learned a lesson. So it's almost a good thing. Almost.”